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Holy Ghost Prep overcame an early 1-0 deficit and rolled to a 5-1 non-league win over Council Rock South Monday night at Revolution Ice Gardens.
Brady Logue scored twice for the Firebirds (3-1 overall). Logan Barnes, Chris Marshall, and Anthony Valeriote also scored goals.
Daniel Filippov scored for the Golden Hawks, who lost for the first time in six starts.
Holy Ghost Prep 0 4 1—5
C.R. South 1 0 0—1
Eleven of the 12 scheduled crossover games between SHSHL and ICSHL teams have been completed. Scores are listed below; the ICSHL leads the series six victiories to five.
Friday 11-8 Strath Haven 3 Wissahickon 1
Friday 11-8 Downingtown East 6 C.B. South 1
Wednesday 11-13 Pennridge 6 Boyertown 3
Thursday 11-14 Marple-Newtown 7 Hatboro-Horsham 4
Thursday 11-14 Neshaminy 2 Conestoga 0
Friday 11-15 North Penn 6 Downingtown West 2
Friday 11-15 Spring-Ford 8 Pennsbury 7
Friday 11-15 Avon Grove 7 C.B. East 0
Wednesday 11-20 Lower Merion 5 Souderton 4
Thursday 11-21 Plymouth Whitemarsh 4 Radnor 2
Thursday 11-21 C.R. South 2 Haverford 1 OT
Thursday 12-5 Abington at Harriton 8:00 at Skatium
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BRISTOL—Haverford and Council Rock South both embrace strong hockey traditions. The Fords are one of the oldest scholastic hockey programs in the area and have won five Flyers Cup titles. The Golden Hawks have been in existence for a little over two decades and have claimed three Flyers Cup titles.
It seemed only fitting that the two schools meet in the ongoing SHSHL-ICHSL series. And so they did Thursday night at Grundy Arena with the host Golden Hawks prevailing 2-1.
Pete Pereborow scored the winning goal amidst a scramble in front of the net with 1:42 remaining in overtime to keep South unbeaten at 5-0.
Haverford’s Joseph Cianciarulo (left) and Council Rock South’s Brendan Rooney take a faceoff Thursday night. Sean Weisner photo
“[The puck] deflected off somebody,” he said. “I don’t know if it deflected off our own player or the underneath netting seam. I just know that I saw that puck going forward. I had to bat it home to secure it, that’s all I had to do.”
The first two periods were scoreless and the two goaltenders, South’s Evan Ayala and Haverford’s Dylan Vieira passed every test.
The Hawks spent a fair amount of time shorthanded. They killed off four penalties in the first period. In the end they were accessed seven of the game’s 12 penalties.
Jordan Sarne scored the evening’s first goal 7:13 into the final period, beating Vieira with a forehander from the right faceoff circle.
Five minutes later South drew its sixth penalty of the game; Jackson Mosley was sent to the box for roughing. It took just 12 seconds for Connor Lill to score the tying goal for Haverford (3-1).
South wound up having to kill one more penalty before regulation play ended. The number of penalties was a source of concern for Jake Houk who filled in for his father Joe behind the Hawks’ bench.
“My dad told me before the game ‘When the cat’s gone, the mice come out to play,’” the younger Houk said. “I think some of the kids on our team that lose their heads a little bit kind of showed it tonight. But, I was proud of them for staying composed after a few of them.”
Haverford coach John Povey took an abundance of positives out of the evening.
“I’m extremely happy with my guys and how they played tonight,” he said. “We battled all the way to near the end there to get into overtime. It’s 50-50 at that point.
“We found a way to tie the game up. I told my guys to walk out of this building with their heads up high because they played a really good game tonight.”
Lill said the early-season test against a quality opponent taught him a lot about his own team.
“I learned we don’t give up,” he said.“
Ice Chips—Haverford claimed Flyers Cup titles in 1992 in Class A, and three consecutive Class AA Crowns from 2005-07, and a fourth Class AA Title in 2021. South’s Cup titles, all in Class AA, came in 2009, ’11, and ’12. They also won a state championship in 2012… The Golden Hawks unveiled a set of gold alternate jerseys Thursday night.
Haverford 0 0 1 0—1
C.R. South 0 0 1 1—2
Third-period goals: Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Jonah Weston and Jeremy Rahner, 7:13; Connor Lill (H) from Brendan McCormick and Shawn Yoder, 12:26 (pp)
Overtime goal: Pete Pereborow (CRS) unassisted, 3:18
Shots: Haverford 26, C.R. South 31; Saves: Dylan Vieira (H) 29 Evan Ayala (CRS) 25
Thanksgiving is still over a week away but North Penn is already attracting a lot of attention.
The Knights are unbeaten in four starts after a 6-2 win over Downingtown West last Friday night in a game that was part of the SHSHL-ICSHL crossover series. They’re 3-0 in SHSHL National Division play with a trip to Council Rock South awaiting on Wednesday night (7:20 at Grundy Arena).
The Knights are scoring a lot of goals; they’re averaging 8.5 goals per game while allowing just 1.5 goals per contest. The lineup features some of the division’s early season scoring leaders.
Sophomore Samuel Norton has scored five goals and added seven assists for 12 points. Senior Cole Pluck has accumulated 12 points by scoring three goals and adding nine assists. Junior Nolan Shingle has scored seven goals and added three assists for 10 points while junior James Boyle has accumulated 10 points of his own by scoring six goals and adding four assists.
“We’ve played well,” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “With the team we have now we know we’re going to be able to put up a number of goals but we keep preaching strong defense and we’ve got great goaltending.”
Boyle, who epitomizes the offensive-oriented defenseman, says he and his teammates are taking good practice habits into games.
“I think it’s our preparation,” he said. “Good practices twice a week. Making sure we’re prepared before games helps us to get off to get off to good starts in games.”
Two years ago, North Penn won just five games and missed out on the postseason. Boyle was part of that 2023 team and says the memories of that disappointing campaign are a motivating force this season.
“Going through that, a season where we weren’t winning too much, made everyone want to be able to play and battle back,” he said. “We wanted the chance to and try to win it all this year.”
Last year, the Knights won 13 games and returned to both the SHSHL playoffs and the Class AA Flyers Cup tournament. Vaitis has bigger goals in mind this year and wants his players to understand what it takes to attain those goals.
“Thinking toward end of February and March, what does it take to be playing at [a high level]?” he said. “It’s strong defense, good goaltending, and getting scoring from all three lines. And that’s where we’re going; we’re getting scoring from multiple guys, it’s not just our top three.
“Last year was a great step for us, getting back into the Suburban League playoffs getting back into the Flyers Cup tournament but we want to do more than that this year, right? We obviously want to continue to play our best hockey at the end of the year; the goal has always been the Suburban League championship and the Flyers Cup that’s what the goal has been for the 15 years I’ve been here. we’re going to keep working and try to get better.”
EAST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP—It was the sort of game one would expect to see during the second week of March as opposed to the third week of November. North Penn and Downingtown West demonstrated why they expect to be taken seriously in the weeks and months to come.
For the record, the Knights prevailed 6-2 in the SHSHL-ICSHL crossover matchup Friday night at Ice Line but the affair was much more closely contested than the score would indicate; it was a one-goal game until the closing minutes of the third period.
It was an evening the Knights celebrated their fourth consecutive victory of the young season, but North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis was quick to point out it was most of all an occasion to celebrate high-school hockey.
“I’m so glad we started doing the crossover games this year,” he said. “Downingtown East and C.B. South played last week, Boyertown-Pennridge and us and Downingtown West tonight.
“Heretofore, you don’t see these teams until March. It gives you an opportunity to play them and build high-school hockey in this area.”
Downingtown West coach Brett Mackel, who saw his team drop to 2-2 on the season, echoed those sentiments.
“I like that they added the crossover games this year,” he said. “Especially teams that we usually wouldn’t see until the Flyers Cup. It’s great having different teams come in, especially teams we’re not used to seeing.”
Sam Norton scored two goals for North Penn. Nolan Shingle was also credited with two goals while James Boyle produced a goal and an assist.
Goals from Bryce Schuler and Ryder Jones gave the Whippets a 2-1 lead 7:54 into the second period. Norton tied the game for North Penn with 2:18 left in the period and Boyle’s power-play goal 77 seconds later gave his team the lead for good at 3-2.
“I thought we came out a little flat,” Boyle said, “but then we picked it right back up. Then we got back on them.”
Shingle extended North Penn’s lead on a shot from the deep right wing with 6:29 left in regulation. His second goal was a power-play effort with 4:46 left after the Whippets were accessed a bench minor.
Norton added his second goal of the evening with two minutes to play when he lofted the puck from his own blue line into an empty net.
Aidan Quigley earned the win in goal with 26 saves, many of them achieved with heavy traffic in his field of view.
Mackel felt his team performed well in some areas but was lacking in others.
“We had a lot of penalty kills that we ended up killing off,” he said. We gave up two power-play goals, but other than that our kill was good.
Our goaltender [Justin Adams] gave up two power-play goals but he played pretty well.
“Negatives. We didn’t shoot the puck as much as we needed to tonight. Our defensive zone was pretty sloppy.”
North Penn 1 2 3—6
D-Town West 0 2 0—2
First-period goal: Gabriel Dunn (NP) from Aidan Quigley, 2:48
Second-period goals: Bryce Schuler (DW) from Ryder Jones, :44; Jones (DW) from Reed Surak, 7:54; Sam Norton (NP) from Chase Kelly Del Ricci, 14:42; James Boyle (NP) from Norton and Luke Haftel. 15:59
Third-period goals: Nolan Shingle (MP) from Cole Pluck, 10:31; Shingle (NP) from Boyle and Pluck, 12:16 (pp); Norton (NP) unassisted, 15:00 (en)
Shots: North Penn 35, Downingtown West 28; Saves: Aidan Quigley (NP) 26, Justin Adams (DW) 29
BRISTOL—Shutouts are rare events in high-school hockey. But Neshaminy’s Colin Thurnau took center stage Thursday night, stopping all 36 shots he saw as the ‘Skins bested Conestoga 2-0 at Grundy Arena in the latest installment of the SHSHL-ICSHL interleague series.
It was the first win for Neshaminy in three starts this season. Conestoga, which was without several regulars, dropped to 1-3.
Anthony DiCrosta and Ryan DeMatteo scored the two goals but it was Colin Thurnau who shouldered the biggest share of the load.
“You’ve just got to stay focused the whole time,” the senior said. “I was tracking the puck very well.
“But, I also want to give a quick shout out to the D-line for shutting it down tonight, and to [assistant coach Aric Miller] for stepping in all alone, he coached a great game tonight.”
Miller was behind the Neshaminy bench Wednesday night, filling in for the absent Bill Mooney. He noted that the win was a total team effort.
“Everybody in the lineup did what they needed to do to get this win tonight,” he said.
Miller celebrated Thurnau’s performance.
“Colin had a solid fame tonight,” he said. He’s our backbone back there. We knew we could count on him, putting him in there, and he really stood up to the task tonight. It wasn’t easy, he faced 36 shots. But, he got the job done, and our boys stepped up for him in the end.”
DiCrosta gave the ‘Skins the lead 3:44 into the second period off a setup from Eli Kirsh. For most of the night that was all the hosts could do against Max Haimson, who turned in a solid performance himself in the Conestoga net.
DeMatteo extended the Neshaminy lead 5:59 into the third period when he concluded a sprint up the right wing by scoring the evening’s second and last goal.
Conestoga coach Mike Graves left the building looking for goals.
“It was good back and forth game,’ he said. “I think we’ve got to find a way to bury some rebounds and get to the hard areas.
“We had a lot of perimeter stuff tonight, but nothing real dangerous.”
Graves credited both goaltenders. “We have a luxury with {Haimson] in the back for us,” he said, “and they had a solid goaltender tonight too. He did a great on smothering all the rebounds and making the first save look real easy.”
Conestoga 0 0 0—0
Neshaminy 0 1 1—2
Second-period goal: Anthony DiCrosta (N) from Eli Kirsh, 3:44
Third-period goal: Ryan DeMatteo (N) from Liam Mooney, 5:59
Shots: Conestoga 36, Neshaminy 24; Saves: Max Haimson (C) 22, Colin Thurnau (N) 36
HATFIELD—A fast start paid big dividends for Pennridge Wednesday night. The Rams jumped in front with two early goals and went on to a 6-3 win over Boyertown at Hatfield Ice Arena as a part of the SHSHL-ICSHL series.
James Rush scored twice for the defending Class AA Flyers Cup and state champions. Shane Dachowski added two goals and two assists as Pennridge improved to 2-1 on the season.
The Rams got off to a fast start. Rush scored off a turnover at center ice, beating Boyertown netminder Tyler Griffith to give his team a 1-0 lead 3:01 into the first frame. He made it a 2-0 game just 18 seconds later.
Logan Brown answered for the Bears (3-2) 8:59 into the period but Dachowski made it a 3-1 game with 1:53 remaining.
“It’s always great to get those early goals,” Rush said. “It gives your team the momentum for the rest of the game and you just try to maintain the lead from that point on.”
The Rams had just 12 skaters a available because of injuries and their coach Jeff Montagna was pleased with how his team stepped up in one of the most anticipated matchups of the interconference challenge series, against an opponent that reached the Flyers Cup semifinals last spring. The Bears were limited to just six shots in the opening period
“I thought we played a tremendous game,” Montagna said. I thought we did a great job in the slot area.
“I told [his team] Thais is a a blueprint for us. The starters scored, everyone else keep the puck out of our net and do the dirty work, the dirty things that not every team wants to do.”
Dachowski and Rush scored goals not quite six minutes apart to increase the Pennridge lead to 5-1 with 7:45 left in the middle period. Joseph Bilotta scored for Boyertown with 5:24 left in the second session and added his second goal of the night with exactly two minutes remaining in the game, Ladan Bishop brought down the curtain when he added a goal with 56 seconds remaining,
Boyertown coach Joe Slowik praised the way his team competed.
“I thought our team competed very well,” he said. “They’re the defending state champs so you’ve got to give them some credit.
“But I thought we competed really well and I thought we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We turned a lot of pucks over, we didn’t get exits when we should have and definitely weren’t very good in front of either net.”
Rush said the win against a top-tier opponent told the Rams a lot about themselves.
“You get to see what our team is going to look like this year,” he said, “what kind of opponents you can really handle. I think we got a good understanding of how good we will be this year.”
• The win was the first for the SHSHL in the three games that were played through Wednesday night; ICSHL teams won the first two.
Slowik commented on what the crossover games do to promote high-school hockey.
“I love it,” he said. “I think it’s great. When they put this on our schedule, the crossover game, I thought it was great because the only time we play each other is in the Flyers Cup and that’s in March.
“I would like to see maybe even a little more of these crossover games. I think it’s great for high-school hockey here in Pennsylvania.”
Boyertown 1 1 1—3
Pennridge 3 3 1—6
First-period goals: James Rush (P) unassisted, 3:01; Rush (P) Shane Dachowski and Ladan Bishop, 3:19; Logan Brown (B) from Lucas Remick, 8:01; Dachowski (P) from Jared Garber, 15:07
Second-period goals: Dachowski (P) unassisted, 3:28; Ruah (P) from Garber and Dachowski, 9:15; Joseph Bilotta (B) from Evan Kurtas and Riley Berger, 11:36
Third-period goals: Bilotta (B) from Weston Bieber and Jax Drost,15:00 Logan Biahop (P) from Dachowski, 16:06 (pp)
Shots: Boyertown 29, Pennridge 32; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 26, Jacob Winston (P) 26
National Division W L T PTS OTW OTL
North Penn (2-0) 2 0 0 8 0 0
Cent. Bucks South (2-1) 2 0 0 7 1 0
C.R. South (2-0) 2 0 0 7 1 0
Pennridge (1-1) 1 1 0 5 0 1
Pennsbury (1-2) 1 2 0 5 0 1
Souderton (1-1) 1 1 0 4 0 1
C.R. South (1-1) 1 1 0 4 0 0
C.B. East (1-2) 1 2 0 4 0 0
Neshaminy (0-2) 0 2 0 0 0 0
C.B. West (0-2) 0 2 0 0 0 0
American Division W L T PTS OTW ORL
Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 0 0 4 0 0
Wissahickon (1-1) 1 0 0 4 0 0
Hatboro-Horsham (1-1) 1 1 0 3 1 0
Springfield 0 0 1 0 0 1
Abington (0-1) 0 1 0 0 0 0
Scoring G A Pts
Jackson Accardi CRN 5 4 9
Shane Dachwski Pr 7 2 9
Shane Hicks Pb 3 6 9
Dan McGlathin CRN 5 2 7
Jeff Kvecher CBS 2 4 6
Peter Perberow CRS 1 5 6
James Rush Pr 1 5 6
Tonight marks the start of a new partnership between the Suburban High Hockey League and the Inter County Scholastic Hockey League; the first two in a series of 12 interleague games between the two leagues as part of the regular-season schedule that will be played between tonight and December 5.
Tonight, Wissahickon from the SHSHL will face Strath-Haven from the ICSHL at Ice Works in Aston and Downingtown West from the ICSHL will host Central Bucks South from the SHSHL at Ice Line (the full schedule is listed below).
The two leagues square off against each other annually in the Flyers Cup tournament and regular-season interleague games are not new. This year’s series of games however, have more significance because the results will be considered by the Flyers Cup Committee when evaluating potential invitees.
Beyond the Flyers Cup tournament however, the series shines a spotlight on high-school hockey. Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna is looking forward to the crossover games.
“We go into the Flyers Cup every year blind [against the Inter County League teams] and how we match up,” he said. I know they’ve talked about it for a couple years and the coaches were all on board. It’s something I think is long overdue.
“I think for both leagues, to get a chance to see teams from the other league and it breaks up the monotony of the season and it gives you a different look altogether. It’s really cool thing they’re doing.”
Montagna likes playing interleague games as a change of pace,
“We maybe go down to Ice Line and whoever we’re playing brings a lot of fans in for a regular-season game,” he said. “It’s a playoff atmosphere you don’t always get when we’re playing teams two or three times a year.”
Haverford High coach John Povey says the series will be a boost for the high-school version of the sport.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to do for some time now,” he said. We just think it’s great for high-school hockey. When you get teams from each league, you’re going to get good hockey games and all that does promote the league promote the sport.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to do for a while and being able to make it happen this year is really good and it’s good for high-school hockey.”
Povey is no stranger to interleague games.
“We’ve been doing preseason games with each other for the last 10-plus years,” he says. “This is just a little bit different because it’s going to have a lot more meaning to it.”
When Shaun McGinty was playing high-school hockey at Council Rock High in the mid-1990s under legendary coach Paul Gilligan the Indians competed regularly against teams from throughout the area, including Delaware and Chester Counties.
McGinty notes that Gilligan wanted his teams to face the strongest opposition available.
“His mindset was to compete with the best to be the best.” McGinty said. “He always pushed his program and us as players.”
As a head coach himself, McGinty has regularly sought out top-flight non-league opposition.
“I’ve done it here from the time I was here with [former coach Tom Coyne},” said, “and since Tom’s left I’ve kept it going with Haverford and Father Judge. I’ve played Ghost and La Salle and those teams are great.
We’ve played Haverford and we’ve played Conestoga. It’s good that the leagues are doing it again. It’s great for the kids and good for the coaches to see what others leagues have.”
McGinty notes that games like the one his team will play Friday night against Downingtown East are tutorials of sorts for younger players who aspire to compete at the school varsity level.
“We try to sell our middle school here,” he said. When we’re in playoffs, we try to get the middle school kids come out to see the big boys play and promote the idea that ‘This is where I’ve got to get too, this is where I have to work to to get to this level of play. You’re going to see some talent. It’s a great way to promote the game and I think it’s huge.”
Crossover Schedule
Friday 11-8 Strath Haven 3 Wissahickon 1 at Ice Works
Friday 11-8 Downingtown East 6 C.B. South 1 at Ice Line
Wednesday 11-13 Prnnridge 6 Boyertown 3 at Hatfield
Thursday 11-14 Marple-Newtown at Hatboro-Horsham 7:10 at Hatfield
Thursday 11-14 Conestoga at Neshaminy 7:20 at Grundy
Friday 11-15 North Penn at Downingtown West 7:50 at Ice Line
Friday 11-15 Pennsbury at Spring-Ford 7:15 at Oaks
Friday 11-15 Central Bucks East at Avon Grove 8:00 at Ice Line
Wednesday 11-20 Lower Merion at Souderton 7:20 at Hatfield
Thursday 11-21 Radnor at Plymouth Whitemarsh 7:10 at Hatfield
Thursday 11-21 Haverford at Council Rock South 7:20 at Grundy
Thursday 12-5 Abington at Harriton 8:00 at Skatium
HATFIELD—For drama, this one was hard to top. J.D. Crouch scored on a shorthanded breakaway just before the overtime-ending buzzer to give Central Bucks South a stunning 5-4 win over Pennridge Thursday night in a SHSHL National Division meeting at Hatfield Ice Arena.
The Titans overcame a 3-0 second-period deficit to post their second consecutive win of the young season. The Rams (1-1) saw a four-point effort from Shane Dachowski go unrewarded; the senior delivered three goals and an assist. And Pennridge goaltender Jacob Winton was credited with 57 saves in the losing effort.
Dachowski was at the forefront of the game’s penultimate sequence; he had a clear path to the net when he was taken down by the Titans’ Sean Cutter, who was called for tripping with 9.6 seconds remaining in the five-minute overtime. allowing the Rams to put an extra skater on the ice. Pennridge coach Jeff Montagna’s lobbying effort for a penalty shot was unsuccessful.
Crouch got control of the puck off the ensuing offensive right-circle faceoff and headed for the other end of the ice, hoping to win the race against time.
“It was kind of just a lucky bounce,” he said. “I chipped it of the wall and the [defensemen] stepped and gave me all the time. There was not much time on the clock so I just had to shoot it. I heard my teammates on the bench yelling to shoot it, so I just ripped it.”
After a scoreless first period, it was the Rams, who took command in the second frame with a goal from Shane Venner followed by a pair from Dachowski to build a three-goal advantage. But Dominic Gibson and Joey Slobodrian scored goals for the Titans 51 seconds apart to make it a one-goal game with 3:41 left in the period.
Dachowski and Slobodrian traded goals before the second period ended; Gibson tied the game with 6:19 left in regulation.
Pennridge started the overtime with a four-skaters-to-three advantage after the Titans’ Logan Hood was flagged for interference with 42 seconds left in regulation but the Rams couldn’t take advantage.
South coach Shaun McGinty celebrated his team’s comeback.
“That’s a never-give-up attitude,” said. “That’s a team effort. [62] shots to 36, obviously, we’re getting the shots and controlling that end of the game. But [Winton] is an unbelievable goaltender. They obviously have guys that are going to do damage when they have the puck.
“Dachowski is a phenomenal player and he’s just going to do what he does.”
Montagna credited his team for its effort, Winton in particular.
“Jacob was obviously unbelievable in net,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about our team tonight. They played a phenomenal game. I’m proud of them, I really am.
C.B. South 0 3 1 1—5
Pennridge 0 4 0 0—4
Second-period goals: Shane Venner (P) from Kaden Gunning, 2:00; Shane Dachowski (P) unassisted, 4:42; Dachowski (P) from James Rush, 11:02; Dominic Gibson (CBS) from Jeff Kvecher and Sean Cutter, 12:28 (pp); Joey Slobodrian (CBS) from Cutter, 13:19; Dachowski (P) from Rush, 14:43; Slobodrian (CBS) from Logan Hood and Jake Stepp, 16:02
Third-period goal: Gibson (CBS) from Slobodrian, 10:41
Overtime goal: J.D. Crouch (CBS) unassisted, 0:00
Shots: C.B. South 62, Pennridge 36; Saves: Nate Neapolitan (CBS) 32, Jacob Winton (P) 57
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